I’d like to propose a small but meaningful improvement to the WRL contact display. At the moment, WRL automatically pulls operator names from QRZ, which is great—however, many operators use on-air nicknames or preferred names that differ from what QRZ has listed.
It would be helpful to have a separate, dedicated “Nickname” or “Preferred Handle” field that displays alongside the QRZ data in the contact viewer. This keeps the official information intact while still allowing us to identify operators by the names they actually use on air.
Suggested approach:
Add a standalone “Nickname/Handle” field for each callsign.
Display it prominently next to the QRZ name in the contact viewer.
Allow users to enter or edit this nickname manually.
QRZ data remains untouched.
The Notes section in the mobile app is currently not very visible and doesn’t consistently populate prefilled data. Since notes often contain these kinds of personal identifiers, having a dedicated nickname field—paired with a more accessible notes display—would make QSOs much smoother.
Thanks for considering this enhancement, and thank you for all the great work being put into WRL.
Thanks for this great suggestion!! I agree this makes sense, we could make it so the user can add their OWN nickname / name they want to appear when other people look them up!
By the way, our call sign lookup uses a lot more than just QRZ, we are pulling a lot of callsign lookups from our own database when they exist, and then using QRZ to cross check or get data when it isn’t in the WRL database!
Will the custom field data carry over to future QSOs with the same operator? For example, if I log a QSO with WU0M and enter “Dad” in the custom field, will that automatically populate on future contacts, or is it only tied to that single QSO?
James,
Great information! I was not aware of that. I appreciate the double check/ cross reference when internal WRL data is not present!
Keep up the great work and thank you again for creating such an amazing community!
The persistent Notes feature is excellent when operating from home—whether hunting or rag-chewing. However, as an apartment dweller, I primarily use WRL for POTA activations in the field, almost exclusively on a mobile device.
In its current state, using the persistent Notes section during an activation requires stopping the activation, searching for the operator in global search, adding or editing a note, and then returning to the logbook. This workflow is disruptive in a portable operating environment. Compounding the issue, the persistent Notes section is not visible outside of the browser-based version of WRL.
One of WRL’s strongest advantages is its ability to sync seamlessly across devices, and I believe I’m not alone in valuing that capability. Adding a dedicated “Nickname” field that appears alongside an operator’s name would provide a mobile- and tablet-friendly alternative to the Notes section while preserving that cross-platform consistency.
As an alternative (or additional) improvement, it would be extremely helpful to allow access to the persistent Notes section directly from within a logbook while logging a contact. While a per-QSO notes field already exists, it does not persist across contacts, which makes it unsuitable for storing nicknames. That field is useful for logging details specific to a single QSO, but it does not address the broader need described above.
At present, WRL does not offer a mobile-friendly way to input or view operator nicknames. This is one feature I miss most from my previous logging software, and I believe addressing it would significantly improve the mobile and portable operating experience.
yes we are aware and have plans to make the mobile app more feature rich like the web app. The only issue is screen real estate (meaning we only have so much space to add and put fields and data on a small screen size of a phone). However with that said, we are working on enhancements for the mobile app.
